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European summit not looking good; dollar rising

Precious metals prices are weathering the blows of investors concerns over the eurozone debt crisis. The concerns ahead of the European Union summit, has influenced investors and even world markets. The rupee continues to struggle, which has curbed the primary gold-investing nation of India’s normal buying. Analyst Robin Bahr said, “There’s no semblance of a safe-haven at the moment but as the price goes lower that bid does come back as you maybe get some renewed investor interest – sovereign wealth funds and central banks looking to nibble away and even some physical buying.”

The concerns now are growing, as concerns over Germany’s own economic issues mount. As executive and consumer sentiment fell from 90.5 in May to 89.9, the lowest for Germany since late 2009 and unemployment is on the rise. The issue is that now core member nations, not just secondary nations, are affected by the growing debt crisis. Economist Christoph Weil said, “Germany won’t be able to disconnect from the euro-region developments… The second quarter will show an economic contraction and there are no signs of improvement for the following three months. Whether the situation stabilizes afterward hinges decisively on the euro crisis and latest developments are no real reason for optimism.”

The pressure continues to build for German Chancellor Angela Merkel within the European Union as she continues to be attacked on all sides from nations that find her intransigence off-putting. However, it is not just her partner nations, but she is even pressured globally. The issue is that as unpopular as her beliefs are in the EU, they are quite popular with the German people. Billionaire George Soros feels her position is a bit myopic. He said, “Merkel has realized that the euro is not working, but she cannot change the narrative she has created because that narrative has caught the imagination of the German public, and the German public has accepted it.”